BitTorrent has become a very popular technology for downloading files. Almost all GNU/Linux distributions can be downloaded this way and more authors are deciding to release their creations using BitTorrent every day. If you want to download using BitTorrent now you need a special client, like the original one or one of the more advanced ones like Azureus. Wouldn’t it be convenient if you could use BitTorrent directly from your browser? This would make it as easy to use as it is downloading files over HTTP or FTP.

Good news everyone! It’s happening as I write this. They just released first beta version of Opera 8.02 (download from FTP) which already includes simple support for BitTorrent downloads. There is also BitTorrent support in the works for Firefox browser (as part of the Google Summer of Code project). Unfortunately it will not be ready for integration into version 1.1. Until version 2.0 comes out we will have to use an extension to get the support. It is not going to be as powerful as Azureus, but it will bring BitTorrent closer to the average user and make it much easier to use.

Tags: bittorrent, browsers, opera, firefox, internet

In the morning members of the European parliament voted on a very important issue for every computer user. They were deciding on the future of the software patent directive. As all of you should know by now, it would legalize almost unlimited patentability of software, if accepted. This would only be good for big multinational companies and extremely damaging for everyone else (medium and small size companies, free and opensource software community and all the people who use computer software).

Fortunately the fight for our rights was successful. Members of European parliament clearly rejected the software patents directive in its current form by a large margin (648 votes against 14). This means that the directive must be rewritten from scratch. And this time we have to make sure it will be written properly and benefit all the people.

Sources:

• FFII - European Parliament says No to software patents
• BBC - Software patent bill thrown out
• Reuters - EU assembly throws out bill to harmonize patents
• RTE - EU vote over software patents
• IHT - Patent law is rejected in Europe

Tags: software patents, european union, software, free software, open source

Ubuntu Linux is getting very popular among users of the free operating system. I’ve read some very positive reviews and heard only good things about it. After visiting DistroWatch.com I could see that second beta (or Colony 2 as they call it) of version 5.10 is out and I decided to download it and try it out.

First I tried to download it using BitTorrent but the download was extremely slow. So I just decided to use the normal download and the ISO image of LiveCD for AMD64 was down in less than an hour. Before burning it I have let it share over BitTorrent for about one day.

I finally rebooted my computer yesterday evening to boot into Ubuntu and check it out. But unfortunately I didn’t get far. After some booting activity I was “welcomed” by a blank black screen with a blinking character _ in the lower left corner of the screen. As it is expected from a good open source community member I have immediately reported a bug about this. During the night another person with the same problem reported his computer configuration and I guess it is some problem with nVidia graphics driver failing to load.

First exploration of Ubuntu didn’t even start. It looks like I’ll have to wait for Colony 3 (or maybe even final version). Unless there is some workaround.

Tags: ubuntu, linux, operating systems, free software, open source

In March I have reported that the development will stop on Mozilla Application Suite and shift to individual applications (Firefox, Thunderbird, Nvu and so on). But a lot of people and some developers like the suite so much that they have decided to continue working on it. And so the SeaMonkey Project was born. This wouldn’t be possible if Mozilla was not free software and open source. When some company decides to stop working on some proprietary and closed source application, well there is nothing you can do and application is dead.

You can read the official announcement here:
SeaMonkey Project Continues Internet Suite

Tags: mozilla, seamonkey, internet, browsers, free software, open source

There is a nice article at Groklaw that has a couple of quotes from Richard M. Stallman, Linus Torvalds and other well known people from the free software and open source world. They tell how software patents are dangerous to them and other small and medium sized companies. And some people, with substantial help from mega-corporations, try very hard to hide this danger from us.

Let me remind you that voting on software patents directive is on 6^th of July when European Parliament will have the last chance to prevent disaster from happening. And we, the people, have the last chance to tell them why software patents are so damaging to all of us. We have to convince members of European parliament to vote for Buzek-Rocard-Duff amendments!

Tags: software patents, european union, free software, open source

Issue 4 (July 2005) of TUX Magazine is out. If you are new to Linux or are still considering switching to it, this is the perfect free magazine to read. Topics in this issue are:

• P2P

• Easy Does It
• How to Make Linux Perfect for the Desktop
• Letters
• Q&A with Mango Parfait

• Let a Tomboy Manage Your Notes

• Getting Started with OpenOffice.org Calc

• Introduction to Linux Security, Part I
• Scrapbooks and Albums
• Windows-to-Linux Migration with Qt

• Libranet 3.0
• Gadget Guy: Products with Drive
• Guarddog
• Liferea
• tsclient
• streamtuner

• Why Piracy Hurts Open Source

Free download is available from official page, using ED2K links or BitTorrent.

Tags: tux, magazine, linux, open source, free software

While reading blogs around the internet I’ve stumbled upon an entry titled Norway to Kick Microsoft Out? on UMMO Letters. There is a link to an article Norway goes open source in which you can read that…

The Norwegian Minister of Modernisation, Morten Andreas Meyer, has promised that his government will stop using proprietary software and transfer to open source.

If you read the news article you can also see that he understands how important are open and free document formats (like OASIS OpenDocument) and that closed proprietary formats have no place in communication between citizens and government. Too bad our Slovenian government doesn’t understand all of this.

Tags: norway, government, open source, free software